He was the jockey for nearly all of the great Secretariat’s races. He also climbed aboard the likes of Shuvee, Riva Ridge, Northern Dancer, Damascus and Arts & Letters.

I can’t claim an intimate knowledge of the horsey sport, but I do recognize those names.

Turcotte had won more than 3,000 races by 1978 and was surely on his way to getting to the finish line first in a few thousand more.

But his career was derailed by a spill in in a non-descript race at Belmont that year and he suffered injuries that made him a paraplegic. Instead of riding horses, he has spent the last 36 years riding a wheelchair.

Which brings us to the Kentucky Derby yesterday, arguably racing’s greatest single showcase. It’s even an event Turcotte helped boost more than a little, winning the Derby in 1972 aboard Riva Ridge and, again, in 1973, aboard Secretariat.

It made him the first jockey to win back-to-back Derbies since 1902.

But Turcotte didn’t attend the Derby this year because officials at the event’s track, Churchill Downs, have not provided him handicapped parking and other accommodations for him to get around the facility.

In a statement Turcotte released last week, he explained: “For the past several years I have been attending the Kentucky Derby as one who loves the sport, and as a guest of the Kentucky Derby Museum to meet fans and sign autographs.

“As a two-time (Derby) winning jockey who still holds the track record for the 1 ¼-mile distance, I take great pride in my accomplishments (there) … It also gives me great enjoyment talking to fans, sharing stories and signing autographs as a way to promote the sport of racing and benefit many worthwhile charitable organizations such as the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.

“However, my most recent experiences at the track have tarnished my fond memories of Churchill Downs through the actions, or should I say inaction, of track management who has not provided me with either accommodations or parking access during Derby days. Being confined to a wheelchair … it is no easy feat to maneuver through the crowds that attend the Derby festivities. It becomes nearly an impossible task when there is virtually no assistance from the track.”

This year was not the first time for that. Turcotte said that in 2012, despite being the subject of a documentary being filed at Churchill at the time, he was denied parking assistance by the track and was only able to secure a handicapped parking space when the documentary’s film crew paid $500 for one.

Last year, he claims, he not only was denied parking accommodation at the track but had his wheelchair access rectricted to museum grounds across the street from Churchill Downs, preventing him from even being able to watch the Derby.

“In each of these instances, Churchill Downs management knew well in advance that I would be attending the Derby, yet never made an effort to offer one shred of hospitality or professional courtesy,” he added in his statement.

A track spokesman said any “snub” was the result of a communications breakdown and promised that the track would “fix it.”

But this scenario has been brewing for more than two years and, according to Turcotte, nothing has been fixed yet. And, nothing was fixed in time for Turcotte to attend yesterday’s Derby.

It all touches a little close to home for me.

Turcotte rode Secretariat for the late trainer Lucien Laurin, who happens to be a distant relative.

Back in the early 1970’s, early in my newspaper career, I introduced myself to Laurin, who had a reputation as being a little less-than-cooperative with the media.

But, after detailing our connection via the family tree, Laurin recognized our familial relationship and became a willing conversationalist one morning at his Saratoga backstretch barn.

Along came Turcotte that serendipitous morning. Laurin introduced me to the jockey and ensured that I had a considerable length of time to interview him, too.

Many years later, when writing a 20th-anniversary recollection of Secretariat’s 1973 loss to Onion in the Whitney at Saratoga, I reached Turcotte by phone at his New Brunswick, Canada, residence just beyond the Maine border.

Upon mentioning my name, Turcotte remembered the long-ago meeting.

“Aren’t you the guy who was related to Lucien?” he asked.

That was always the greeting, too, whenever the always affable Turcotte made his annual trek to Saratoga.

I also recall someone once asking the jockey if he had any regrets about the sport that eventually forced him to a wheelchair since 1978.

“Regrets? Absolutely not,” he said. “I had a great career, I rode great horses, I rode the greatest horse of all time (Secretariat). I’m in the sport’s Hall of Fame. I still am in good health. I’m still well-known around race tracks. Racing gave me everything.”

Everything, that is, except reasonable access to Churchill Downs.

For a sport that has had more than its share of troubles in recent year, one losing significantly measurable numbers of fans annually, wouldn’t honoring one of its legendary riders be some small way of stemming the diminishing interest?

Instead, Churchill Downs’ archaic handicapped access policies ensured Turcotte was not on hand at yesterday’s Kentucky Derby. And, that brought the type of national publicity that’s nearly as damaging as a day-long malfunction of the betting windows.

Turcotte had a well-earned reputation as a rider who could navigate 1,000-pound mounts through the tightest of openings between horses on a race track, and his overall success earned him a spot in nine different Halls of Fame.

But that’s apparently not enough for him, now, to get a little help navigating his wheelchair through Churchill Downs, not enough for him to get a little help at the venue where he had some of his greatest victories.

Steve Amedio’s column appears every Wednesday and Sunday in The Record. He can be contacted at hoopscribe1@aol.com